


A Big Mistake to Make

by jilliancares



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, M/M, Phan - Freeform, Phanfiction, listen this is best friends to enemies to lovers, phanfic, please appreciate me, werewolf!dan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-27 22:31:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8419717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jilliancares/pseuds/jilliancares
Summary: When an adventure as a little boy has dire consequences for Dan, he’s sure to cut off all contact with his (former) best friend. Alternately: A halloween werewolf fic. Alternatively, alternatively: A best friends to enemies to lovers fic.





	

**Author's Note:**

> TW: there's vivid details of the pain of dan's transformations

"Come on," Dan begged, tugging on his best friend's hand. "You never wanna do anything fun. This'll be an adventure of a lifetime!"

 

"If by 'adventure of a lifetime' you mean ‘dangerous and stupid’, then yes," Phil responded. He was always talking like this, like he knew better than Dan simply because he was older. And he wasn't /that/ much older anyway, only a year. And Dan had turned ten just a couple months ago now. He was in the double digits, just like Phil, so really, Phil needed to get off his high horse.

 

"Don't be lame," Dan taunted, Phil's hand still trapped within his own. He wanted to have _fun_. They never did anything cool for halloween anymore, and trick-or-treating was for babies.

 

“I”m not going, Dan!” Phil said harshly, yanking his hand out of Dan’s grasp and glaring at him. Dan glared right back.

 

“Fine,” he sniffed. “Then I’ll just go alone.” And with that, he turned and stomped off towards the forest, leaving Phil behind him.

 

“Dan, no!” Phil cried, though after a quick glance, Dan ascertained that he hadn’t moved from the spot. Dan thought for sure that he’d come with him, once he threatened to go alone. “Don’t go in there! There could be monsters! Or ghosts!”

 

“Good!” Dan yelled back. “That’s what Halloween’s _about_.” Dan turned around once more as he stood on the very edge of the forest. “So? Are you coming or not?”

 

Phil simply shook his head, looking scared and worried. Dan scoffed.

 

“Wuss,” he muttered, but turned and entered the forest without Phil anyway. To be quite honest, he really hadn’t wanted to go in alone. He _did_  believe that there could be monsters or ghosts or something, but he had also expected Phil to remain firmly by his side the entire time. He glowered as he thought of Phil again. Halloween was practically ruined, and it was all Phil’s fault.

 

Dan didn’t have any interest in actually exploring the forest, not when he was alone and had no one to share his findings with. Dan sat down and leaned against a large tree. It wasn’t like he could actually leave the forest anytime soon, not if he wanted to prove Phil wrong.

 

He could see his breaths in the air in front of him, which made Dan pull his jacket tighter around himself reflexively. It _was_  quite cold out tonight. And out in the middle of the forest everything was eerily dark, the only light at all coming straight from the full moon.

 

Maybe it wasn’t too late to leave the forest. Maybe Dan could go back, and he could tell Phil that there were a whole bunch of monsters out here, and that it was probably a good thing that Phil had decided not to come. Dan sighed loudly, debating his options, when he heard a branch crack somewhere behind him.

 

He was instantly on high alert, the hairs on the back of his neck prickling. Dan carefully stood up, peering around the tree and into the darkness beyond. He couldn’t see anything.

 

“Phil?” he whispered, which kind of defeated the purposing of getting Phil’s attention if it was really him. “Is that you?”

 

No one answered, but Dan was straining his ears regardless. He was positive that he had heard a branch snap, which meant _something_  was there. “Don’t play tricks,” Dan said a bit louder, still listening with all his might. “It’s not nice.”

 

Audibly, another branch snapped, followed by the crunching of leaves, and Dan pressed himself up against the tree, staring into the darkness. He was shivering profusely, it felt like ice was moving through his veins and he was half convinced that it was his terror making him feel this way and not the cold of the night.

 

“Phil?” he said again, even quieter than the first time. For a second, Dan didn’t hear anything, and he was debating running back out of the forest, before he heard what sounded like many footsteps, like an animal running.

 

Dan was paralyzed with fear, and he’d only managed to take one step backwards before he tripped and landed on his back, the breath whooshing out of him. He tried to struggle back upwards, but the animal suddenly emerged from the shadows, and Dan screamed. It was a wolf, its fur gleaming in the moonlight and its sharp teeth bared menacingly.

 

Dan scrambled backwards, but this only seemed to enrage the beast. It leapt forward, and before Dan even had time to think, it’s teeth were buried in the flesh of Dan’s thigh. He screamed out in pain and kneed the wolf in the snout with his other knee, making the wolf jump backwards. It scampered off into the woods, and Dan, breathing heavily, struggled to his feet and sprinted the way he came.

 

He could barely feel his injury, his thigh felt numb, thanks to the cold and the adrenaline flooding through Dan. He could feel blood oozing out of the wound, though Dan couldn’t even find it in himself to care. He just ran as hard as he could, his only thought about getting out of the woods.

 

Dan sprinted out of the trees and almost immediately into Phil, who was standing and looking thoroughly worried. “Dan!” he gasped. “What happened? Are you okay?”

 

Belatedly, Dan realized that his face was wet with tears. “Nothing! I’m fine!” Dan gasped, hastily looking over his shoulder and pulling Phil further away from the forest.

 

“But,” Phil protested, “I heard screaming. And— and you’re crying!”

 

Dan glared at Phil, wanting him to believe his lie while simultaneously being not entirely sure why he wasn’t just telling him the truth. He’d been bitten by a wolf! Then again, if he told Phil, then Phil would assuredly know that he was right about not going into the forest. And he was _already_  always right. This would be just one other thing that made Phil smarter than Dan, and Dan couldn’t stand that.

 

“No I’m not!” Dan barked, scrubbing at his cheeks even as he said it. “I’m going home,” he said abruptly, marching past Phil in the direction of his house. Now that he wasn’t running for his life anymore, the pain in his thigh was becoming horribly obvious. It throbbed with his every heart beat along with every step he took, and he could feel the blood seeping through his trousers.

 

“Dan!” Phil protested. He was following Dan and he looked beyond worried, but thanks to how dark it was he couldn’t see the state of Dan’s leg. “Tell me what’s wrong!”

 

“You ruined Halloween, is what’s wrong!” Dan lied. He opened the back door to his house then, the fact that he lived right next to the forest now scaring him unlike it used to, and slammed it shut. Phil glared at him, but he stomped over to his own house directly across the street. That was the cool thing about living right next to your best friend, the fact that they could see each other every day.

 

Dan then hurried up to his room before stumbling into the bathroom connected to it. He climbed into the bathtub and carefully removed his pants, hissing as they jostled his leg. Surprisingly, the wound didn’t look quite as bad as he’d expected. The bite marks looked pretty deep, but the skin was barely torn except for the initial puncture. Dan was sure they'd be gushing blood, but surprisingly, they weren't even bleeding anymore. He turned on the water and began washing the injury immediately, without even waiting for it to warm up.

 

He knew that he should probably tell his parents, that they would want to take him to the hospital. It looked like he needed stitches, and there was also the possibility that the wolf had had rabies, but if he told his parents then they would know that he had gone into the woods when they’d explicitly told him that that wasn’t allowed, on many occasions. Plus, an overwhelming amount of exhaustion suddenly washed through him, and Dan almost doubted his ability to make it to his bed.

 

Dan managed to shut off the water and grab a towel, but his limbs ached and he worried that he might faint. He stumbled to his bed, wrapping the towel around his thigh without even bothering to dry himself off, and collapsed onto it. He was asleep within seconds.

 

The next morning, Dan’s entire body ached. It felt like his body was full of molten lava, and he suddenly remembered the events of the night before. He sat up and tugged the towel away from his thigh, knowing that he should probably do something to properly dress his injury.

 

Except for the fact that it was gone. Dan squinted at his thigh, beyond confused, and tentatively reached out to touch the skin. It wasn’t even sore! Dan knew that this shouldn’t be possible, but really, it was all the better for him. He would even venture to think that last night had been a dream if there weren’t white marks on his thigh from where each of the wolf’s teeth had sunk into him.

 

By lunchtime his body had stopped hurting so badly, and he’d finally gotten out of bed and wandered downstairs in search of food. Instead, he found Phil.

 

“Phil,” he said in surprise, but instead of answering, Phil simply glared.

 

“You scared me last night, Dan,” he said angrily. “You owe me an apology.”

 

Dan rolled his eyes. “I do _not_.”

 

Phil scoffed. “We’re not friends again until you apologize to me!”

 

Dan crossed his arms. “Fine! Then I guess we’re not friends!”

 

Phil turned around and stomped out of the house, and Dan stuck his tongue out at his best friend’s dramatics. They declared their friendship over often enough for Dan to know that this wasn’t really it, that eventually one of them would apologize or that they’d both just give up on fighting, simply coming together and deciding to play video games or explore Phil’s backyard (for the thousandth time) instead.

 

So no, Dan wasn’t worried. He simply continued on his way to the kitchen in search of food.

 

—

 

Nearly a month later, Dan was beginning to fear for his and Phil’s friendship. Dan didn’t really have any other friends, and he hadn’t played with anyone since Phil had ended their friendship.

 

“Do you want me to invite Phil over today?” his mother had asked on more than one occasion, though Dan had always said no. He’d neglected to mention that they were currently fighting, though his mum was obviously noticing the fact that he wasn’t out playing with anyone.

 

He’d even attempted to go to Phil’s house and see if he would just be done fighting, as it sometimes worked out, but Phil had steadfast refused.

 

“ _No_  you can’t come in,” he’d said, crossing his arms. Dan had scuffed his feet against the doormat.

 

“But Phil,” he’d whined. “I’m _bored_.”

 

“Well then apologize to me,” Phil had insisted imperiously. “I thought something had happened to you on Halloween!”

 

Dan had glared at his on-a-break-best-friend. “I don’t owe you an apology!” he’d cried. Phil had slammed the door shut in his face.

 

Dan really _did_  miss Phil. He missed playing with him and talking with him and spying on the other neighbor kids with him. Nothing was nearly half as fun without Phil, and Dan was even starting to debate simply apologizing to him.

 

It was just turning dark when Dan decided that he would do it. He would march across the street and tell Phil he was sorry and they’d finally be friends again. Dan had just climbed out of his bed, prepared to march through his house first in order to get to the street, when something inside him felt hot. He put his hand to his stomach, frowning, but he couldn’t shake the feeling. It was like he was was being cooked from the inside out, his body getting even hotter and hotter.

 

In a sudden, desperate desire to feel cool, Dan rushed through his house and out the back door, hoping that the cold November air would satiate the rapidly increasing heat. It didn’t. Dan couldn’t even feel the breeze. Instead, he clutched his stomach in pain. Sweat was breaking out all over his body, and he was panting. Dan collapsed to his knees, clutching the grass instead. What was happening to him? Why did everything hurt?

 

Suddenly, something in his back popped, and popped again. And then _snapped_. Dan screamed, agony washing through his entire body. He managed to capture a glimpse of his hands, which were still clutching the grass underneath him, but the sight made him feel sick. It felt like everything inside of him was breaking, even his fingers, and Dan could’ve sworn that his fingers looked hairy.

 

He squeezed his eyes shut, tears streaming down his face and sobs wracking his body. The fire and agony inside of him built to an incredible crescendo, until there was nothing at all, everything fading away, the world incredibly silent.

 

—

 

When Dan opened his eyes again, he felt distinctly _different_. As well as terrified, of course. He tried to stand up, and horror creeped through him as he did, because it was impossible not to realize that he _wasn’t in his body_. And Dan wasn’t an idiot either, he knew what this all meant. He’d been bitten by a wolf, and exactly one month later, had passed out from the agony of his _bones snapping_. It was suddenly, glaringly obvious what had happened. And really, Dan was an idiot for not realizing sooner.

 

Shakily, he looked around, taking in his surroundings. He was still just in his backyard, but everything seemed different somehow. It _looked_  different. The colors weren’t so vibrant, but Dan almost felt as if he was seeing with more than just his eyes. Sure, he couldn’t exactly see the rabbit a few hundred feet away, but he could hear it rustling in the grass, and what’s more, he could _smell_  it.

 

Carefully, Dan made his way to the forest, as it seemed like the obvious thing to do. What would one of his neighbors even do if they saw a wolf just hanging out in their backyard? No, it was best to simply hide away and wait it out.

 

And so that’s what Dan did. He stayed on the edge of the forest, ears pricked and alert for any approaching animals, and he waited.

 

When morning came, he went through the equally painful process of transforming back into a human, discerningly without his clothes. He passed out again before waking up, his body covered in dirt and his limbs shaking as he tried to stand. Dan carefully made his way back inside, grabbing the shredded remains of his clothes as he did. Really, he could only be thankful that his parents usually slept late into the day, and that for some reason, nobody had raised the alarm at his screaming the night before.

 

Dan forgot about fixing his friendship with Phil after that. All he could think about was the fact that he was a _monster_. And what’s worse, he spent every day dreading the full moon, knowing he’d have to go through that torture again.

 

And a week later, when Phil knocked on his door, looking solemn, Dan couldn’t find it in him to accept his offering of playing video games together.

 

“No thanks,” Dan said quietly.

 

“What?” Phil said, astonished.

 

Dan couldn’t let them become friends again, though. He just couldn’t! What if Phil found out his secret and was disgusted by him? Or what if Dan accidentally hurt him somehow? Or what if, by god, he _bit_  Phil? And ruined his best friend’s life forever?

 

“No thanks,” Dan repeated, and closed the door in Phil’s face. They didn’t see much of each other after that, only the occasional inevitable sightings of being neighbors. Phil took to glaring at Dan whenever this happened, and Dan responded in kind. It was better than letting Phil get hurt by him, anyway, even if it hurt Dan’s heart to do so.

 

He became better at being a werewolf, too. He planned to have “sleepovers” with “friends” he’d made in school on every full moon. It was pretty lucky that his parents weren’t very attentive, that they simply believed him when he said it was within walking distance, that he’d be fine getting there, that he would have a key.

 

Then, he would walk around the corner of their block just in case his parents were watching (they never were) and would circle back around into the forest. He would walk incredibly deep into the forest, directly to a clearing that he’d made his own. He stashed his clothes in a tree, along with a few extra pairs that were up there for emergencies, and then he’d sit there in the forest, naked, until it was time to transform. Transforming was always the worst. He spent each night dreading it, building it up and up in his mind until he was anxious and jumpy. The pain was indescribable, and it never lessened and he never grew used to it. It was just the same, horrible sensation every month.

 

Dan would pass out and then he’d wake up as a wolf. His first few transformations he’d spent simply sitting under his tree in his clearing, not daring to move. He was a monster, he needed to stay put. This proved to be horribly tedious, however, and soon enough he’d taken to exploring the forest, chasing small animals and following random scents. He’d yet to run into another werewolf, which was what Dan preferred. He didn’t know how many might live around here or anything, but he definitely knew that he was small for a wolf. Dan figured this was not only due to his young age, but also because he was so short.

 

On the few occasions Dan had seen humans, he’d stayed far away and out of sight. Surprisingly, he’d never gotten an urge to bite any of them, which led him to wonder why the wolf who’d bit him had done so. Maybe some people were just mean like that.

 

Still, he wouldn’t risk getting any closer to any of them, just in case some sort of urge did overcome him. He was a monster now, and that was something he’d never be able to forget.

 

As the night drew to an end, Dan would find his way back to his clearing, which was incredibly easy as a wolf. The whole area carried his scent, seeing as he spent so much time there. Once back, he would wait until dawn, at which point agony would overwhelm him again until he was human once more, and he would dress in shame.

 

Dan’s eleventh birthday came and went quietly, without a party or anything. His parents gave him a cupcake on that day, as well as bracelet. Later on, Dan had tried to take the bracelet out of the box to put on, but his fingers had instantly burned, and he’d dropped the offending jewelry with a yelp. It was then that he’d realized the myth about werewolves and silver was true, which sucked. It was a cool bracelet, too.

 

Even worse, Dan saw Phil on his birthday, and Phil said nothing, even though Dan hadn’t expected him to. Still, it sucked, and Dan couldn’t believe that it’d been months since they’d even talked. He missed Phil, though there was nothing he could do about it now.

 

Dan didn’t deserve friends anymore. Not when he was a monster.

 

—

 

The worst thing about being neighbors with your nemesis was that you saw them _all the time._  Dan glared at Phil as he pulled into his own driveway, parking his car and turning off the ignition.

 

“Had a good detention?” Phil taunted, the second Dan stepped out of his car.

 

“Fuck off,” he rebuked without even looking over at Phil, before walking into his house and slamming the door behind him. It didn’t matter anyway, his parents weren’t home. They never were.

 

Dan sighed, looking at his watch and groaning. It was such bullshit that he’d gotten detention anyway, seeing as it was Kyle who’d been smoking in the bathrooms and not Dan. Dan was just keeping him _company_.

 

Now his whole schedule was thrown off, and he had to rush upstairs and start putting things to sorts. It was a full moon tonight, but thankfully it was Friday, and Dan loved when that happened. The worst thing was being stuck as a wolf all night and having to go to school the next morning, especially as he couldn’t get any sleep. Dan had tried to sleep as a wolf before, but he was never able to, always feeling completely awake. Most of the time, to tell the truth, Dan just skipped school the day after the full moon.

 

Dan dumped his backpack out on his bed, stuffing it instead with a comfy pair of clothes to change into in the morning, as well as a few energy bars. He’d started bringing food ages ago, seeing as he was usually ravenous when he woke up. Walking that long trek back to his house while starving was usually a bad start to an equally bad day.

 

Glancing at his watch again, and cursing, Dan scrambled back down the stairs and out the back door. There was no one to keep up pretenses for right now.

 

Dan made his way deep into the forest, preparing for yet another horrible night.

 

Transforming was, as always, absolutely horrendous. Dan sobbed and shrieked during the duration of it, but unfortunately, as he’d grown older he’d stopped passing out in the middle of it. Now, he was completely aware of the entire transformation, which somehow, managed to hurt even worse towards the end of it, the part he’d normally been passed out for. By the time that Dan was a wolf, he was laying on the ground, panting and whimpering at the after effects of the pain. Still, he eventually managed to stand on shaky paws.

 

Dan spent a few hours stalking random prey through the forest and following scent trails until he found them. It was because of this random wandering that he happened to come across none other than Phil Lester, which was really fucking bizarre. Why would he choose to be out in the forest in the middle of the night? And why was he laying on the ground?

 

Dan stuck deep in the shadows, looking on with curiosity. And then Phil whimpered. Dan cocked his head, sure that that was a sound of pain. Then, of course, he heard the voices, a while off.

 

“Who’d’ve known that _Lester_  was a gross fag?” one voice was saying. It was accompanied by a couple pairs of footsteps, all of them getting farther away.

 

“What’d you do to his ankle anyway?” another responded.

 

“Fucking stomped on it,” the first voice answered, and the group sniggered. “Think I heard it snap!” Dan barred his teeth, despite the people he was mad at being nowhere near.

 

“Maybe he’ll die out here,” a third voice said, and the group laughed again. Their voices were extremely far away now, and Dan was tired of straining his ears to listen to them. He’d heard enough, anyway.

 

Sure, Phil might be an asshole, but Dan wasn’t. And that’s why he was going to help.

 

Slowly, Dan stalked out from between a pair of trees, approaching Phil cautiously. Dan was a stealthy hunter, he could run without snapping a twig, but he did so deliberately to get Phil’s attention. Phil’s head jerked in Dan’s direction immediately, and laying eyes on Dan, he gasped.

 

Phil struggled to stand on his injured leg, but it was impossible, and he fell back to the ground immediately. He whipped his head and stared at Dan in terror, before determinedly crawling away. That’s when Dan decided he’d had enough. Phil shouldn’t even have been so scared of him anyway, he was entirely too small for his age. By now it was clear that his size as a wolf correlated to his height as a human, which made him long for a growth spurt even more. Still, he guessed that he _was_  a pretty big animal. He was slightly taller than a man’s waist, but he’d seen a few other wolves over the years, and they were much bigger than him.

 

Dan walked slowly towards Phil, who noticed him approaching and whimpered, but continued to crawl on. Dan let out a little bark, trying to get Phil’s attention. Phil crawled faster in response, and Dan huffed through his nose in annoyance. Phil would be dead ten times over if Dan actually wanted to hurt him.

 

Deciding that he didn’t care if he scared the living daylights out of Phil any longer, Dan stepped up to Phil’s side and nudged him with his nose. Phil actually screamed because of this, and Dan had to resist growling at him to make him shut up. With the way things were going, that would only make him scream louder.

 

Phil ended up falling onto his side. He let out a sob, his face pressed into the ground, and drew his knees up into his chest. Dan couldn’t save Phil if he didn’t cooperate, so he resigned himself to making Phil trust him.

 

Dan laid down right next to Phil and waited. Finally, Phil seemed to realize that he wasn’t being eaten alive, and he opened his eyes and looked at Dan.

 

“What the fuck,” Phil breathed, and Dan whined quietly at him. /Just let me help you,/ he thought desperately. Dan pressed his nose into Phil’s shoulder, and Phil jerked away. When Dan didn’t immediately try to eat him however, he calmed down a bit. (Dan could hear his heartbeat returning to normal.)

 

Tentatively, Phil reached out a hand to pet Dan, who let him do so. Anything to get him to hurry up so that Dan could save Phil in good time before he had to be back in his clearing to transform.

 

Slowly, Phil seemed to gather confidence with Dan’s presence, and when Dan stood up, Phil barely even flinched. Dan whined at him again, trying to convey his urgency to help, and finally, Phil seemed to maybe understand. He struggled to stand on only one foot, and then he looked at Dan warily. Dan sidled up to his side, hoping Phil would get the message.

 

Thankfully, Phil did understand, and he carefully placed his hand on Dan’s back. Dan started walking forward, and Phil hopped along with him. He trusted Dan with more and more of his weight as they walked, until Dan was practically carrying him. It took maybe twenty minutes for them to reach the edge of the forest, seeing as the assholes that had attacked Phil thankfully hadn’t brought him in very deep.

 

Dan stopped at the edge of the woods, standing directly behind his own house. It was the best place for him to bring Phil, seeing as Phil’s house was across from Dan’s, but it still made him uneasy to see Phil so close to his home again.

 

“Thank you,” Phil said to Dan, which was dumb of him. Who said thank you to a wolf? For all Phil knew, Dan couldn’t understand a word he was saying. He nosed at Phil slightly, trying to get him to leave the forest. Phil dropped back to his knees and crawled, wincing every time he jostled his ankle. Disconcertingly, he stopped at Dan’s back door, which he dragged himself over to before knocking. Dan looked on with alarm, thankful that his parents weren’t home.

 

“Dan!” Phil called, resting his head against the door. “Dan! Mrs. Howell?”

 

When no one came to open the door, Phil started digging around in the bushes by the door, until he emerged with a rock. A _fake_  rock. One that Dan’s family had been keeping a spare key in since the beginning of time!

 

 _That bastard!_  Dan thought, as Phil used the key to unlock the back door, and crawled inside Dan’s house. Dan ran back through the forest, knowing that his time was almost up, and that he would return home to Phil Lester in his house.

 

After a regular and painful transformation into a human, along with a few minutes spent lying on the ground sobbing, Dan managed to get dressed. He tried to brush as much dirt off of him as he could before grabbing his backpack and traveling back to his house, munching on a bar along the way.

 

When Dan opened his back door, it was to the sight of Phil leaning against the kitchen counter, his face extremely pale and his body shaking.

 

“Phil?” Dan said, pretending to be surprised.

 

Phil jerked, his eyes opening. “Dan,” he said quickly. “This is weird, I know, but can you drive me to the hospital? My parents aren’t home.”

 

Dan nodded, grabbing his keys and helping Phil stand. Dan couldn’t remember the last time he’d touched Phil amicably, seeing as usually they were just tripping each other and shoving shoulders in the halls.

 

“Fuck,” Phil whimpered as Dan dragged him along, and Dan made an effort to be more careful as they walked. He helped Phil into the passenger side before walking around the car to get in his own seat. He peeled out of the driveway and started down the road, occasionally glancing at Phil worriedly.

 

“What happened?” Dan asked after a couple of minutes. Phil cleared his throat.

 

“Some guys from school, they tricked me into going into the woods and broke my ankle,” he answered.

 

“How come?” Dan asked.

 

Phil swallowed. “Don’t know,” he lied. Really, Dan was surprised that Phil didn’t realize that he was gay too. Then again, Dan hadn’t suspected it about Phil, so who was he to have a say?

 

“How’d you get to my house?” Dan asked.

 

“You’d never believe me,” Phil said quietly. Au contraire, Dan thought, but said nothing.

 

Dan waited in the lobby of the hospital while Phil got x-rays and eventually a cast. It took hours, and when Phil finally walked back into the lobby, he seemed surprised to see Dan.

 

“I can’t believe you waited,” he said disbelievingly, as he walked beside Dan, now using crutches.

 

“Of course I did,” Dan said with a scoff. “How else were you supposed to get home?”

 

It was a little while later, as he was pulling into his own driveway, that Phil suddenly frowned and looked at him. “Wait a minute,” he said. “When you walked in through the back door, were you coming from the woods?”

 

Dan looked at him for a few seconds, his throat suddenly dry. “No,” he answered, before slamming the car door behind him.

 

—

 

The next month was particularly unbearable. Partly because Phil seemed less inclined to hate him now, nodding at him from across the street whenever they happened to be outside at the same time, but mostly because Phil had taken to walking along the outskirts of the forest quite often. This meant that he spent a lot of time traipsing back and forth through Dan’s backyard, and he knew what Phil was doing. But Phil was mistaken, there was no way he was going to get to see his little wolf friend again. It was dangerous enough having been close to Phil once, there was no way he was going to let it happen again.

 

The next full moon, Dan was sneaking out into the woods, when someone said his name. “Dan?”

 

Dan startled, jumping about a foot in the air and spinning around to confront whoever had said his name. “ _Phil_? What are you doing out here?”

 

“What are _you_  doing out here?”

 

“I— nothing,” Dan said immediately, his hands tightening on his backpack straps. He really had to get going, otherwise he might not be as deep in the forest as he would’ve liked to be when he started to transform.

 

“Well, me neither,” Phil said, making Dan want to roll his eyes. He didn’t know why Phil was so obsessed with finding the wolf that’d helped him, but Dan wasn’t going to let Phil find him.

 

“Whelp,” Dan said awkwardly, before taking a step backwards towards the forest. “I’m just gonna—“

 

“Are you going into the forest?” Phil asked, his eyes wide. “Are you sure that’s safe?”

 

“What? Afraid there might be monsters out there?” Dan said with a smirk. It was all reminding him of that Halloween ages ago. If only Dan had listened to Phil then.

 

“Or animals,” Phil mumbled.

 

“I’ll be careful,” Dan promised, before turning around and walking into the trees. He paused after a few steps to make sure Phil wasn’t following him, and when he was sure that he wasn’t, Dan broke into a run. He could already feel the heat building in his stomach, which meant he only had a couple minutes left.

 

It was in the middle of Dan’s transformation, when he was screaming and writhing on the ground, half human and half wolf, that he heard it.

 

“Dan?” Phil was yelling sounding frantic. His voice was still far off, but it was getting steadily closer. Was he off his crutches already? Dan hadn’t even noticed. “Dan? Are you okay? I’m coming, Dan!”

 

“No,” Dan groaned, moments before the worst of the pain began, his spine snapping completely, his back feet elongating. When it was finally over, Dan allowed himself barely a second to lay on the ground and cry, to let the pain diminish. He was up and running immediately, getting as far away from Phil as he could.

 

Unfortunately, in Dan’s panicked run, he somehow missed the signs that there were animal traps around, and he stepped right into the center of one that snapped up and locked around his leg. The sharp metal dug and tore into his skin, and Dan let out a sharp barking whine because of it.

 

Thankfully, Dan healed faster than the average person, but he had to be able to get the trap off of him first. Using only three of his legs, Dan hopped back the way he came, heading towards his clearing. He strained his ears for Phil, which was harder to do than usual, thanks to the pain distracting him. He was pretty sure Phil was gone though, and Dan laid down in the center of his clearing, figuring it would be best to be by his bag if he wasn’t able to get out of the trap before morning.

 

Dan’s bag wasn’t quite where he’d left it, but Dan figured that he must have kicked it while he was transforming. The smell of his blood was overwhelming, and Dan’ began to gnaw and pry at the trap in an attempt to get it off.

 

The trap was unbudging. It was well into his skin, and it seemed like he needed to have opposable thumbs in order to get it off. He’d just thought so, when a bush rustled behind him, and Dan whipped to face it, his teeth bared and his hackles raised.

 

“Shh,” Phil said, emerging from bush. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “It’s just me.”

 

Dan would’ve happily growled at him and scared him off, were it not for the metal spikes digging into his leg. Dan whined at him instead, and he let Phil work to unhinge the trap from around him. It was immediate relief once the thing was gone, and Phil pet his face carefully after he managed it.

 

Exhausted from pain and blood loss, Dan fell asleep for the first time ever as a wolf. When he woke up, it was because he was in the midsts of transforming again. His eyes shot open, and he whined as his body arched off the ground, his insides heating until everything burned. He glanced around frantically, relieved to see that Phil was gone, having probably gone home, and squeezed his eyes back shut.

 

Halfway through the transformation, Dan’s whines turned back into screams, until finally he collapsed on the ground, sobbing and shaking. He wiped the tears out from under his eyes with dirt-covered hands and crawled towards his backpack tugging on his clothes.

 

Dan finally stood up, his legs shaking underneath him, and he reached out to grab a nearby tree. He was always weak after he transformed back into a human, and for most of the day Dan would find himself laying in bed if it was an option. He’d taken one step in the direction of his house, when he heard someone clear their throat. Above him.

 

Dan’s head whipped up, taking in none other than Phil, sitting in the tree directly above Dan. “Oh fuck,” Dan muttered, his eyes wide, before he started to run back to his house. It was hard work, his limbs still shaking and tired from the recent transformation, and his leg wasn’t entirely healed yet either. As he ran, the half-healed scabs on his legs ripped open and ached with every step.

 

“Dan! Wait!” Phil pleaded behind him. Dan glanced over his shoulder as he ran, seeing that Phil was gaining on him.

 

Dan let out a panicked sob, before bursting through the edge of the trees and throwing open the door to his house, locking it behind him. He watched as Phil came sprinting out of the trees too, running directly towards Dan’s house, but Dan ignored him and pounded up the stairs to his room. He climbed into the bathtub and ran the water as hot as it would go, and continued to shiver under the stream.

 

 _Oh fuck,_  Dan thought desperately. _Phil knows, oh shit, oh fuck!_

 

Suddenly, there was a crash from Dan’s room, and Dan gasped, glancing frantically towards the bathroom door. There was no way that Phil had broken into his house, right? Sure, there was a tree outside Dan’s room, and _sure_ , they’d both climbed it to get into Dan’s room as kids, but Phil wouldn’t do that _now_ , would he?

 

The next thing Dan knew, the bathroom door was slamming open, and Dan hugged his knees to his chest desperately, pressing his body into the very corner of the bathtub. Maybe Phil would just go away, maybe he’d have the decency to respect Dan while he was showering.

 

Nope. The shower curtain was ripped open, and Dan was shaking, scared for his life. Phil was going to call the police! Or the FBI! Or the… or the queen!

 

“Go away,” Dan sobbed, hugging his knees harder, and then Phil was climbing into the bathtub, still fully clothed, and sitting down next to Dan. He wrapped his arms around Dan and tugged him hard into his chest, and Dan went willingly. God, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been hugged.

 

“Shh, Dan,” Phil whispered, probably because Dan was sobbing. Dan’s sobbed even harder, and he was hugged Phil with all his might, his hands digging into the material of Phil’s shirt.

 

“Is this what happened that Halloween?” Phil asked quietly, his hand stroking Dan’s back.

 

“Y-yes,” Dan said into Phil’s shoulder. They stayed like that for a long while, and when they finally got out, they climbed into Dan’s bed under the covers, holding each other and making up for all the years they’d not been friends.

 

“I’m sorry for scaring you that Halloween,” Dan whispered some time later, long after it’d gotten dark again. At some point in the middle of the day they’d wandered into Dan’s kitchen for food, before taking it back upstairs and eating it in Dan’s bed.

 

“Apology accepted,” Phil said with a laugh, pulling Dan into him again.

 

Dan didn’t quite know how it happened, but somehow they started kissing, their mouths moving slowly but surely against each other’s, Dan’s body all wrapped up in Phil’s.

 

Phil was a good kisser, the way he nibbled on Dan’s lip, the way he sucked on Dan’s tongue. Dan was embarrassed for getting hard simply because of Phil’s mouth, and he did his best to not let Phil realize. He angled his hips well away from Phil for as long as he could while Phil plundered his mouth.

 

It turned out Dan didn’t have to though, as soon Phil was rolling on top of him, and he was hard too. They both groaned as they pressed against each other, and Dan’s breath hitched as he rutted up against Phil.

 

“Oh fuck,” Dan whined, grabbing onto his shoulders and grinding into him desperately. It was embarrassing, how desperate he was for it. He’d never done anything like this before, had never done anything other than kiss a boy, and now here he was, rutting like a slut against Phil. He was panting and gasping, and Phil was simply smirking down at Dan, occasionally grinding down hard against him and making Dan choke.

 

“You’re never done this before, have you?” Phil asked with a chuckle. Dan shook his head, blushing, and Phil ducked down to kiss his neck. “Let me show you something that’ll feel good.”

 

Dan nodded frantically, and then Phil was tugging both of their underwear down, before reaching into Dan’s pants and grabbing Dan’s cock. Dan let out a squeak at this, and then Phil was readjusting them, making them both sit up.

 

He wrapped his hand around both of their cocks, stroking slowly, and Jesus _fuck_  it felt good. Dan couldn’t exactly manage to tell Phil so, but he slumped against Phil’s chest and clung to him desperately in an attempt to relay the information. He was fucking up into Phil’s hand erratically, Phil’s cock feeling unbelievably wonderful against his.

 

“Phil, fuck! Phil,” Dan panted, and Phil ran his hands through Dan’s hair, before gripping it and pulling his head back.

 

“That feel good, Dan?” he asked, his voice deep with arousal, which made precome gush out of Dan. He moaned in response, and Phil ducked his head again, nosing against Dan’s throat. He licked a spot, before sucking on it hard, nipping on it even.

 

“Please,” Dan groaned, his fingers digging into Phil’s shirt, until he decided that he just wanted it _off_. He frantically shoved it over Phil’s head, which momentarily disrupted his hand stroking the two of them. Impatient, Dan shoved Phil back on the bed, simply rutting against him instead.

 

“Fuck, you’re so needy,” Phil gasped, grabbing Dan’s hips and helping to add even more pressure as they grinded together. One of Phil’s hands came up to Dan’s mouth, and he instructed, “Suck.”

 

Dan sucked on his fingers, swirling his tongue around them even, and then Phil was pulling them out of Dan’s mouth with a pop. Dan continued to grind against Phil, until Phil’s fingers found their way to Dan’s entrance, which he rubbed them against slowly. Dan abruptly stopped, all his attention now concentrated elsewhere.

 

“Keep going,” Phil whispered. Dan did, unable to deny himself the pleasure, and suddenly Phil’s finger popped inside of him. He groaned in surprise at the surprisingly good foreign feeling, dropping his head onto Phil’s shoulder as he continued to grind against him. Phil pumped his finger inside Dan a few times before adding another, and he started to fuck Dan with the two faster.

 

“‘M close,” Dan grunted, his body starting to shake, it felt so good.

 

“Good,” Phil murmured, kissing Dan’s forehead. He continued to fuck Dan with his fingers, until suddenly they hit something that made Dan arch up and moan loudly, yelling out, “Fuck!”

 

Dan grinded extra hard against Phil then, and Phil just kept rubbing that spot inside of him, and then Dan was coming, his body jerking up against Phil as he panting into Phil’s neck, whining and gasping and squeezing Phil as hard as he could. Phil came too, moaning and kissing Dan’s neck as he did, and then they both just laid there, pressed up against each other and holding each other close.

 

—

 

Dan told Phil all about being a werewolf that next month. About how terrifying that first transformation had been, about how he hadn’t let himself be Phil’s friend afterwards, convinced he was a monster.

 

Phil scoffed at that. “The kindest monster I know, then,” he said with a roll of his eyes, pointing at his ankle. Dan shoved him.

 

They spent pretty much all of their time together, having sleepovers almost every night, even on school nights.

 

Dan got visibly more anxious as the full moon approached, but that was just standard procedure for him. He dreaded the pain, dreaded the long night alone, knowing he’d have to go through the pain a second time until he was truly done. As dusk started to fall, Dan shoved his stuff into his backpack.

 

“See you in the morning,” Dan said nonchalantly to Phil, who was sitting on Dan’s laptop on the bed. Phil raised his eyebrow at him.

 

“I’m coming with you,” he said, closing the laptop and stretching. Dan paused with his hand on the door knob.

 

“No, you’re not.”

 

“Yes, I am.”

 

“Phil, no,” Dan insisted. “It’s embarrassing. And— there’s a whole lot of screaming involved. I just, I don’t want you there.”

 

“Well tough shit,” Phil said, walking forward and wrapping his arm around Dan’s waist, leading him down the stairs. “‘Cause I’m coming.”

 

Dan sighed, knowing Phil well enough to know he wasn’t going to give up. Dan grabbed Phil’s hand and started into the forest with a fervent glance at the houses around them.

 

When the heat started to build up in Dan’s stomach, he whimpered and broke into a run, dragging Phil behind him. They crashed into the clearing with a few minutes to spare, and Dan hurriedly stripped off his shirt and trousers. He glanced down at his boxers, embarrassed, before deciding to keep them on.

 

“You’re leaving those on?” Phil questioned, and Dan nodded with a blush. “You know I’ve seen it all before.”

 

“Feels different,” Dan muttered, and Phil simply shrugged, coming forward to hold Dan in his arms.

 

“I love you,” he murmured, and Dan nodded against his neck, his eyes already welling with tears.

 

“Love you too,” he managed, before choking and dropping to the ground. He curled into a ball, gasping, and Phil sat down next to him, rubbing Dan’s back.

 

“Fuck, Phil,” Dan groaned. “This is the worst part. Look away.” He pried his eyes open to look at Phil, but Phil was just shaking his head, and he reached up to stroke Dan’s hair.

 

Suddenly, something in his back popped, and popped again. And then _snapped_. That, of course, was when Dan started screaming. At first, he tried his best to tone it down so as not to scare Phil, but that was impossible. He occasionally became aware of Phil’s hand stroking his back or running his fingers through Dan’s hair, of his voice whispering sweet nothings. Soon Dan’s screams turned into whines and yips, until finally he was a wolf, left panting on the ground and whining in pain.

 

“You did so well, Dan,” Phil said quietly, reaching out to pet Dan, who was still crying. Dan managed to struggle to his feet, before plopping himself down on Phil’s lap. Phil laughed, his voice sounding thick with tears, and he dug his hands into Dan’s coarse fur. He scratched behind Dan’s ears and his sides and his stomach, all of which Dan had never felt before but now knew was fucking incredible.

 

They passed the night together, Phil telling Dan stories, and Dan chasing little animals around the clearing to entertain Phil. There was one horrible moment when another wolf stalked into the clearing, growling at Dan and Phil. Dan had stood over Phil and growled right back, but there was no ignoring Dan’s obvious size, which really, _was_  quite small compared to the other wolf.

 

Thankfully, the wolf apparently decided that they were no threat, and it turned around and left them alone. Dan rested his head on Phil’s lap after that, and Phil went back to petting him, which always felt good.

 

When dawn arrived, and Dan felt the heat in his belly start again, he began pacing the clearing anxiously, whimpering and whining as he waited.

 

“Oh, Dan,” Phil whispered sadly. “It’ll be alright. And I’ll get you ice cream for breakfast. And I’ll suck your cock.”

 

This, at least, managed to amuse Dan, and he spared a second to lick Phil’s cheek before he resumed pacing. And then, of course, the transformation started, which was horrible as always. Phil did the same as before, petting him and whispering to him and loving him as it happened, and by the time that Dan was laying naked and sobbing on the ground, Phil was gently kissing his face.

 

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “It’s okay. I love you so much.”

 

“I love you too,” Dan whispered, pressing his face against Phil’s leg. _And when had Phil maneuvered Dan’s head into his lap anyway?_

 

But things really were okay, because Dan had Phil, and Phil had Dan.

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! <33


End file.
